Buk Mask Research Paper

The Buk Mask originates from the Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait. The mask was made around the mid-to late 19th century, out of a indigenous materials such as turtle shell, wood, raffia fiber, feathers, and other shells. A male Torres Strait Islander would have worn this mask during a ritual or ceremony involving a performance. The Buk Mask is divided into three registers and is an anthropomorphic and zoomorphic artwork. The bottom of the mask contains a human face, possible depicting a hero of the Kara culture or an ancestor. Above it, is the body of the frigate bird which may have been a totem for the ancestor and finally at the very top, the feathers. The display of both human and animal imagery is common in western Torres Strait masks.

The small mask is a wood sculpture with pigment and were created around the late 19th to early 20th century. The masks were painted depicting anything from animals to human caricatures. The mask is symmetrical, “one of a kind”, and had lustrous curving surface that suggested clean healthy skin. Most of the masks represent an individual idealized by the Baule standards of beauty; a broad forehead, long nose, pronounced eye sockets, introspective, and peace. The portrait mask not only indicated beauty, but also refinement and desire to please others. This is rare, as most African art do not depict real people in their masks. The mask’s main function was to be used in ceremonial dances to celebrate and honor members of the community and ancestors. These ceremonies focused on the respecting the spirit of the ancestor and honoring the matriarch of the family. Overall sculptures all throughout West Africa were depicted to have the power to act, utilizing the practitioner 's power to communicate with the ancestors and spirits. The physical presence of the portrait mask allowed for the invisible spiritual world to interact with the visual world of